Location
25 E 13th St, E304 (3rd floor)
The library is now closed for the summer. We will not be able to accommodate class visits during the summer.
The library may be able to host groups for tours, consultations or workshops on a case-by-case basis, depending on staff availability, for a fee.
To request an appointment for groups of 4 or more, please email MaterialLibrary@newschool.edu with:
- reason for your interest in visiting
- information about your connection to architecture + design, material collections, affordable housing, or manufacturing
- 3 date and time options (with at least 2 weeks' notice.)
About
The Donghia healthier Materials Library at Parsons School of Design is a resource center dedicated to helping designers make responsible materials decisions. With curated product collections and frameworks for evaluating materials, we offer guiding strategies and hands-on examples of products making positive impacts on human health, environmental justice, and social equity.
To learn more about the Library and how we curate our healthier materials collections, please watch this short video.
What makes a ‘healthier’ material?
While there is no universal standard for what makes a ‘healthier’ material, we look to be holistic in considering the impacts materials can have through their extraction, processing, use, and disposal, and all those who may be affected along the way.
In order to make these many considerations more approachable to designers, the Donghia healthier Materials Library worked with BrightWorks Sustainability to develop the evaluation lens seen below, which organizes more than a hundred factors for assessing materials into six primary categories of impacts. This tool gives designers a framework for thinking expansively about the impacts of their choices, empowering us to make better material decisions.
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Visit the Donghia Healthier Materials Library!
Learn how to evaluate materials for health and sustainability impacts
Our Samples
From materials for architecture to furniture to fashion, the Donghia healthier Materials Library offers a wide variety of innovative material samples for design. Some highlights include:
Biocement
Wheatboard
Denim Insulation
Recycled Cellulose
Chromium-free Leather
Linoleum
HempLime
Recycled Wallboard
Milk Paint
Interested in more material collections?
Past Events
How to Access
Open to students, faculty, and staff of The New School, the library is staffed with student researchers and research assistants during all open hours. Appointments are required for class tours and for all external guests.
Please email MaterialLibrary@newschool.edu with:
- reason for your interest in visiting
- information about your connection to architecture + design, material collections, affordable housing, or manufacturing
- 3 date and time options.
If you are an individual or group of 5 or less, please submit your request 2 weeks prior to your intended visiting date. If you are more than 5 people, we ask your request be submitted 4 weeks prior to your intended visiting date. Requests pertaining to Healthier Materials for Affordable Housing will be given priority. The library scheduler will respond to all requests within 7-10 days.